St. Landry democrat., 1887-09-03
Total S~G~. silG. yp4

From these figures it will be noticed
have been increasing steadily, each years
record surprising she preceding one,
with but three exceptions 1t will be
noticed also, that the changes in the
insurance loss have been substantially
the same as in the property loss, being
each year between fifty and sixty per
cent. and averaging tfty-six per cent.
for the ten years
AS a general proposition it may be
stated that losses by fire are Unidentified
by the insurance companies to the eX-
tent of from fifty to sixty per cent, or, to
put it another way, trifle over one-half
the property burned is insured; and from
this it may be fairly inferred that not
much more than one-half the insurable
property of the country is insured
The distribution of fires varies so
widely from year to year that no "eXpe-
rience tables can possibly be made. For
some years the Middle and Western
States suffered about fifty-two per cent.
each of the total loss; the New England
States thirteen per cent; the Southern
States, fifteen per cent, and the Pacific
States and Territories about seven per
cent. But last year the Eastern and
Middle States decreased the percentage
of loss, and the Western, Southern and
Pacific States increased theirs. This
year again things are reversed, and the
East is suffering heavily. The losses in
New York city last year were compara-
lively light, but more property has been
destroyed in the first seven months of
this year than in the whole of 1886. No
cause can be assigned for these fluctua-
tions, and in view of the varied expe-
rience of many years, it is very much to
be doubted if there is one.
During the year 1886 there were Il, 222
fires; the origin of 1913 is unknown.
and the origin Of SOL if known was
not reported; of the 1903 remaining
fires, 1859, or twenty-six per cent. of
those whose origin was known, were
attributable to incendiarism. The other
$3.50 were attributable to tifty-eight
different known causes. Of all the
known causes, then, the incendiary is re-
sponsible for the most fires In 1886 he
destroyed 81, 597, 1924 worth Of property,
or trit1e over ten per cent. of the total
loss.
A closer view of the incendiary phase
of the fire question reveals several import
ant facts. Of the 81, 597, 1924 destroyed
by incendiarism tifty-One per cent. only
was insured, which is five per cent. less
than the average insurance on all prop
erty destroyed by all causes, known and
unknown, during the past ten years.
This fact has an important bearing on
the assertion frequently heard that in
surance furnishes the chief motive for
incendiarism.
70 &LoI of, tiI1n
is the known cause of the largest num-
Der of fires. One thousand and four fires
resulted from this cause in 1886, which is
about thirteen per cent. of those whose
origin is known, and of 300 fires in dwell
ing houses during the last three years, the
origin of which is known, the defective
tlue heads the list of thirty-siX principal
causes, and caused about twenty per cent.
of them all. Forest and prairie fires come
third and matches fourth. This iss
striking commentary on the man
ner in which dwellings are built.
During 1886 there were 1O2 fires
in New York State known to result
from defective tlues, 81 in Ohio, SO in
Indiana, 90 in Pennsylvania, 90 in Hi
nois, Il in Massachusetts, IS in Missouri,
As in California, 81 in Texas, 80 in Maine,
20 in Georgia, % in Kentucky, and so on:
From these figures it may be assumed
that the careless building of dwelling
houses is not confined to any one section
of the country. The ten principal known
causes for all fires in the country are ~
incendiarism; (2) defective tlues; 90
sparks (generaD; az matches; (5) light
ming; (6) lamp explosions; ~ stoves
(S) spontaneous combustion; (9l lamp
accidents, not explosions; QO) locomo-
tive sparks.-PHtsburg Dispatch.